Mars Orbiter Mission on a ‘blackout’ phase

The Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft, Mangalyaan, went under a blackout phase on Monday as the sun blocked Mars from the Earth snapping communication with the satellite for 15 days.

MOM during this period will go into an “autonomous mode” and will take its decisions, a senior Indian Space Research Organisation official told a news agency. He further added, “This will be for the first time that there will be a communication break for such a long period of about 15 days. There will not be any communication with the satellite.”

Assuring that the spacecraft has been “configured” for the blackout, the official also said, “we are not sending any commands to the spacecraft now, till 8th (June) few hours of signals will be sent by the spacecraft-that will be for about two to three hours per day.”